We live, simultaneously, in two different worlds. Ultimately, we live in the World of Nature, a world that we did not create and the world upon which all life depends. Most immediately, we inhabit a "human world" that we create ourselves. Because our human world is the result of our own choices and actions, we can say, quite properly, that we live, most immediately, in a “political world.” In this blog, I hope to explore the interaction of these two worlds that we call home.

About Me

Gary A. Patton

I was an elected official in Santa Cruz County, California for twenty years, from 1975 to 1995. Now, I am an environmental attorney, practicing law in Santa Cruz County. If you would like to contact me, send me an email at gapatton@mac.com.

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Thursday, November 5, 2015

#309 / Energy Voter

Coming from where I come from, politically, the most recent Republican Party Presidential Debate was disheartening. I watched it, though. If you didn't watch it, and you want to, you can still do so. It's online and available on the CNBC website. Just click this link.

Perhaps more disheartening than the debate itself, at least for me, was an advertisement that appeared during the debate, in one of the several advertising breaks in CNBC's political programming. The ad was titled, "Energy Voter." Click right here to watch it.

"American Energy" means (exclusively, it appears) oil and natural gas. According to the ad, as oil and natural gas are produced in greater quantity the result will be "abundant" energy, "affordable" energy, and more "jobs, opportunity, and economic growth."

Here's the kicker: more "American Energy" is supposed to be good for our "children and our grandchildren." That's what the ad says. That's why the nice African American woman who appears at the end of the ad wants to be an "Energy Voter."

Would you like the truth?

The truth is, if we don't stop burning fossil fuels, specifically including oil and natural gas, our children and our grandchildren are going to have to deal with runaway global warming, putting the planetary environment and our human civilization in peril.

I'm going to be an "Energy Voter" in 2016. But I'm voting for a solar energy future.

That kind of energy is not "American" energy. It's energy available to everyone, everywhere on planet Earth.

It's the only way we can make our future more secure.

It's the only way our children, and our grandchildren, are going to have a chance.